V2H Bi-Directional Charging

[BigE]

V2H is an interesting selling point, but it requires so much coordination between multiple parties, that I doubt that it will be widely implemented before battery prices come down. You need to get the car, charger, and home to be communicating and correctly set up so that no energy goes to the grid. As battery prices fall in 5 years, cheaper distributed batteries at the home or neighborhood level will solve communication issues and also the grid capacity problems. I think that V2L (like Hyundai) will become a common feature, but V2H (like Ford with integrated charger/home setup) will remain very niche.

I live on the east coast, so Hurrican central. This would definitely not be a niche market up and down the east coast. Most of my neighbor's spend a minimum of $15K to add a backup NG generator and the necessary electrical work which normally will only be used for an occasional bad storm or maybe for 3-4 days post Hurricane which we've had one almost every other year. Also, that expensive generator is going to bathe in salt air so within 7-10 years you'll be buying another. Go through a hurricane without power, usually pretty warm weather and 90% humidity and you'll pay whatever to have backup power. I would have to do very little to my home to drive my R1T into the garage, plug into a wall inverter like Ford is offering and I'm done. I already have mainline disconnect (not expensive) and can manually select what I want to power. So maybe $2-3K investment vs $15K. Plus the generator I have to maintain and replace. Ford was brilliant to build this into their trucks.

Sponsored

 

[jjswan33]

V2H is an interesting selling point, but it requires so much coordination between multiple parties, that I doubt that it will be widely implemented before battery prices come down. You need to get the car, charger, and home to be communicating and correctly set up so that no energy goes to the grid. As battery prices fall in 5 years, cheaper distributed batteries at the home or neighborhood level will solve communication issues and also the grid capacity problems. I think that V2L (like Hyundai) will become a common feature, but V2H (like Ford with integrated charger/home setup) will remain very niche.

I don't think electric code would allow for dependence on communication between devices. There will be a requirement for a automatic transfer switch that will stop any transfer back to the grid. I assume these are part of the powerwall install process?

I know after I installed my 4 circuit manual transfer switch the inspector got confused and thought I needed an additional protection from grid transfer. I didn't but with whole home backup I imagine that would be needed.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

I live on the east coast, so Hurrican central. This would definitely not be a niche market up and down the east coast. Most of my neighbor's spend a minimum of $15K to add a backup NG generator and the necessary electrical work which normally will only be used for an occasional bad storm or maybe for 3-4 days post Hurricane which we've had one almost every other year. Also, that expensive generator is going to bathe in salt air so within 7-10 years you'll be buying another. Go through a hurricane without power, usually pretty warm weather and 90% humidity and you'll pay whatever to have backup power. I would have to do very little to my home to drive my R1T into the garage, plug into a wall inverter like Ford is offering and I'm done. I already have mainline disconnect (not expensive) and can manually select what I want to power. So maybe $2-3K investment vs $15K. Plus the generator I have to maintain and replace. Ford was brilliant to build this into their trucks.

Nailed it. Living in Charleston, V2H would be a game changer for me if a hurricane rolls through. I can run essential life support, fridge and freezer for several days so no food goes bad. Huge plus for me.

 

[Deacon]

Update: Delta Electronics (Americas) called me back. They said the Delta V2X will not be available for another year in the US. My situation maybe a very specific need. I live on the coast in NC. It seems we get a least 1 hurricane a year that will take out power for 2-4 days. In our area, and installed NG whole house generator runs ~$15K. I have my poor man's set up with my small 7.5 kW portable that I've converted to NG so I can power most everything or alternate devices so all is well. During the pandemic, I took time to install solar but did not put in batteries as I have Net Metering with the power company, no availability of direct Tesla Powerwalls, so I was looking at $30k for 2 PW's, simply not worth the cost in my mind. With this setup, say Hurrican X comes, power is out, next 3-4 days, the sun is shining, I have 9.4 kW in solar, but because I don't have battery back up I can't use my solar. If I had my 180 kW R1T sitting in my garage hooked to a V2H, my solar would be operational, and I could access all that power in the R1T to get me through when the grid gets fired back up. Thus, my R1T now takes place of a $30,000 (2 pack) PowerWall and my R1T will cost ~$20 to charge back up after the storm. This would be awesome!

Also, when Hurrican's occur in our area, the city is under an Emergency state and no travel in or out is allowed, so I'm "sheltering in place" not traveling anywhere.

I am also in eastern NC and have been thinking same thing.

Sponsored